BLM, conservationists reach deal on N.M. resource plan

The Bureau of Land Management and conservation groups have settled an eight-year dispute over a management plan for nearly 10,000 natural gas wells in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico.

The groups claimed the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal laws in developing a 2003 management plan for drilling over 20 years in the 16,000-square-mile basin that straddles the border of New Mexico and Colorado.

A federal court ruled in favor of the agency in 2008, and the groups countered with an appeal. That appeal was dismissed Monday after both sides reached a compromise that, in part, calls for the BLM to consider impacts to cultural, wildlife and other resources when reviewing new lease sales.

Read the full article from ABC News here.

Congress designates N.M. peak as wilderness area

Congress has approved wilderness status for a parcel of donated land at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge that includes the peak of Chupadera Mountain. Read the full story from the Santa Fe New Mexican.

EPA to review air-quality permit for N.M. coal-fired plant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will have to reconsider an air permit the agency issued last year for a proposed $3 billion coal-fired power plant on the nation's largest American Indian reservation, a federal appeals board has ruled. Read the full story from the Daily Times.

N.M. senators want Valles Caldera's designation re-evaluated

This collapsed volcano in the Jemez Mountains, which erupted more than a million years ago, is the site of a federal experiment in public lands management - a failed experiment, according to critics. Even its most ardent supporters acknowledge that it needs a fix. Read the full story from the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Bingaman, Udall introduce N.M. wilderness bill

Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall have introduced a bill to protect the Organ Mountains in Dona Ana County. The New Mexico Democrats said Thursday the Organ Mountains/Desert Peaks Wilderness Act would create a 259,000-acre wilderness area and a 100,000-acre conservation area. Read the full story from the Santa Fe New Mexican.

N.M. judge to hear farmers' water rights case today

No matter which way New Mexico Judge Gerald A. Valentine rules in a lawsuit brought by a group of Mesilla Valley farmers and the grandson of the original builder of a dam near Elephant Butte over water stored in the New Mexico reservoir, the decision will be appealed given the important role Elephant Butte water has in New Mexico. Read the full story from the Santa Fe New Mexican .

Effort under way to protect 370 square miles in New Mexico

Buoyed by the passage of the massive omnibus public lands bill this spring, groups are hoping to capture that momentum to pass legislation to create the El Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area in New Mexico that would protect more than 370 square miles of important wildlife habitat. Read the entire story from the Santa Fe New Mexican (AP).

US appeals court sides with NM in Otero Mesa fight

A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with New Mexico in the state's fight with the Bureau of Land Management over its energy development plan on Otero Mesa, ruling that the BLM should have considered an option that would have put the mesa off-limits to drilling. Read the entire story from the Santa Fe New Mexican (AP).

Bingaman introduces NM wilderness bill

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Nearly 236,000 acres in northern New Mexico would be designated as a national conservation area under a proposal introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman. Read the entire story from the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Court orders new review for jaguar habitat

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision not to designate critical habitat and develop a recovery plan for the endangered jaguar was based on incorrect criteria, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Read the entire story from the Santa Fe New Mexican.